MACV/SOG Wanna know what it was like?
Just stumbled on this short video. If you've read my books or not, this is what I did. I worked Cambodia but this was in Laos.
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That made my* pucker just watching it. I knew a door gunner back in the '80's. He was one crazy son of a gun.
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I can't even imagine.
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I'm just glad that after half a century, I don't have those dreams any more.
We lost about every third or fourth team that we put in. Some went hot and we heard them die before rescue helos could arrive. Some we inserted and never heard from again. And some we lost no matter how many times we tried to pick them up but got driven off. I went through what you just heard in that video about once a month.
The Vietnam FAC job was recently declared to be the most difficult flying mission ever. We flew alone, and had to manage so much going on at one time, always while taking fire. Every decision we made was life or death for someone: the enemy, the good guys on the ground, or us.
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I had a neighbor and good friend who was a huey pilot over there. Glen had a hard time getting back in the world .Have also lost a few friends from agent orange .
Much appreciation and thanks to those who served .
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jimdeere: 30164605193883/comments/30164566989339
That made my* pucker just watching it. I knew a door gunner back in the '80's. He was one crazy son of a gun.
My friend, Bill Silcox, was a door gunner. Very quite and the nicest guy you would ever meet. I can not imagine all you guys went through. God bless all of you Vietnam vets.
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I read the book "Six Silent Men" by Reynel Martinez, about clandestine operations of the 101st LRP/ Rangers that went behind enemy lines to observe and a lot of times had to fight their way out. It was one of the books I would read on vacation about 1st person war stories. This one was very good.
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Thanks to all who served and are serving i truly have the deepest respect for all involved
Laying their life on the line and still went out day after day
Thank you does not seem adequate to express the feelings
And I only wish a lot of left wackos could experience such a feeling even for a hour
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Some of that stuff you just didn't want to think about. I wasn't in Laos or Cambodia but those who were went WAY out on the limb. Mostly on your own due to the politics of sending help.
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it was chaos on steroids. Radio traffic on a normal day was often pure panic and you could hear the fear in some voices, new guys, and pure calm in others. Good to be alive.
smoky
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When I was "asked" to "volunteer" for the MACV/SOG mission, I was given the real Mission Impossible brief. First, I was told that if I got the briefing, I was committed to the mission - no backing out once you know what the mission is. Then, I was told that if I was shot down, I would not be rescued by normal US assets. If I were captured I would be treated as a spy and executed. Lastly, if that happened, I would be disavowed as a serviceman. I learned years later that the cover story would have been that I had defected and was probably running drugs. Named as a traitor in other words, just to preserve Nixon's lie that we weren't operating in Cambodia.
Looking at the way the FBI and CIA are working today to protect the elites, I am not surprised.
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I remember said briefings, often had “assistance” from air America getting in and out.
I remember Christmas Day 1968, the quietest day on radio in memory, a FAC somewhere out there came on with “ This is God on guard wishing my son a happy birthday , God out”.
Was that you Rocky?
Smoky
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Nope. I was there all of '71. But I will note with pride that even on Christmas day a FAC was up there ready to save somebody's ass.
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About the only good(?) thing about a lot of that 'stuff' was the availability of 'air assets'.
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I worked with a guy who was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. We worked together for nearly thirty years total but I never knew he was even in the military for the first 15-20 years that we worked together. On the few occasions that I ask him about his military/flying experiences he would politely change the subject.
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